Gamecocks not losing confidence, vow to fix offensive issues

It’s been that kind of start to the season for South Carolina. Through five games, the Gamecocks have barreled up a lot of balls with limited success as the hits seemingly always find the defender’s glove.

The problem reared its head in the Gamecocks’ 6-5 loss Thursday to Kansas State as they loaded the bases three times but only scored one run from it. Twice they left the bases loaded.

“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating. We had the bases loaded twice and we hit some balls hard,” pitcher Reed Scott said. “Frustrating is not the right word.”

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The Gamecocks (3-2) hit .200 (2-for-10) with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-4 with the bases loaded, and left 11 runners on base.

Madison Stokes and LT Tolbert gave the team arguably their best chance to close the gap in the fourth inning by piecing together back-to-back singles. A throwing error on a Jonah Bride grounder made it bases loaded with no outs, but a Danny Blair double play quickly took the air out of the Gamecocks’ offensive sails that inning and they only plated one run.

The Gamecocks would put runners on base in three of the last five innings but could only scratch across two runs.

“We’re squaring balls up, some aren’t falling,” Stokes said. “Obviously it isn’t enough. We have to do more. We’re going to learn from that and continue to get better.”

Stokes had a career night Tuesday, going 3-for-5 with a run and a RBI. His three hits tied a career-high for the junior and broke a spell of 1-for-15 he had to start the season.

“It doesn’t really mean a whole lot when we lose a game like that,” he said. “It feels good to barrel some balls up and get some to fall through, but we still came out with a loss, so it doesn’t really mean anything to me.”

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Stokes said after the game the team has to get better in all areas if the offense wants to improve, and it starts with the mental game. He said there is no loss of confidence in the clubhouse with the Gamecock hitters.

“Baseball’s a mental game; it’s all mental,” Stokes said. “We’re just going to continue to have our confidence and continue to get better in those areas and continue to play baseball the way we know how to play.”

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The Gamecocks will host Wright State in a three-game series starting tonight. The Raiders took two of three from Clemson on the road during opening weekend. Scott’s not worried about the offense sputtering and knows what hitters are doing will benefit the team in the long run.

“There’s times where we’re going to hit it hard and it’s going to be right at people. Then there’s times were we won’t hit it hard and it’ll fall in for a base hit. As a team it’s tough when you see all these line drives getting caught,” Scott said. “You have to realize we just have to keep doing what we’re doing and eventually things will start going our way.”